Electricals giant AO has again upgraded its full year guidance as both profits and sales soared in the first half.
For the six months ending September 30, 2024, AO reported a 30% increase in adjusted profit before tax to £17m, while total revenues for the period jumped 6% to £512m.
Operating profits for the period increased 11%, while B2C retail revenues increased 13% to £382m.
The retailer said that during the period both its adjusted profit before tax and earnings per share for shareholders grew faster than revenues “as planned”.
Some operational highlights for the period included an increase in its Five Star membership base, going live with its third-party warehousing solution for small products in April and the acquisition of musicMagpie.
AO upgraded its adjusted profit before tax guidance to between £39m and £44m, and group revenues to £1.13bn and capex of c.£11m.
The retailer also said that following the Budget, it was anticipating an added annual impact of c.£4m of direct costs, with indirect costs of a further £8m.
AO founder and chief executive John Roberts said: “I’m delighted to report another successful six months for AO during, which our main B2C Retail business has returned to double digit growth alongside making more progress towards our medium-term ambition of delivering a PBT margin of over 5%.
“We’ve had a Morecambe and Wise summer sales period; all the right volumes just not in the right categories. The wet summer weather meant we sold fewer fridges and air conditioning units and more tumble driers than we had planned. Overall, our team did a fantastic job to play this out as a satisfying score draw.
“We also made good progress beyond our core MDA category, and I’m very encouraged with how our customers and members are responding to our improved range and value proposition in newer categories.
“Our laser focus on costs and efficiency remains which ensures, as planned, that profit grew faster than sales on the growth we’ve delivered.
“Reflecting our truly world class customer service, AO.com has now surpassed 600,000 Trustpilot reviews with an overall score of 4.8 out of 5. We’re also giving our members even more reasons to shop with us.
“None of this has happened by accident and I’m grateful to the entire AO team, our suppliers and partners for their continued support and hard work.
“We’re now well into peak trading with customers responding positively to the thousands of unbeatable deals we’re offering for the Black Friday period”.
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